ce
sounded no more in the Place."

* * * * *

A tense excitement gripped me; my hands trembled, and my voice, as I
spoke to Artur, shook with emotion.

"And this voice--it came from where, Artur?" I whispered.

"From here." Sorrowfully, reverently, he lifted, from a niche in the
wall, a small box of smooth, shining metal, and lifted the lid.

Curiously, I stared at the instruments revealed. In one end of the
horizontal panel was a small metal membrane, which I guessed was a
diaphragm. In the center of the remaining space was thrust up a heavy
pole of rusty metal. Supported by tiny brackets in such fashion that it
did not quite touch the pole of rusty metal, was a bright wire, which
disappeared through tiny holes in the panel, on either side. Each of
the brackets which supported the wire was tipped with a tiny roller,
which led me to believe that the wire was of greater length than was
revealed, and designed to be drawn over the upright piece of metal.

"Until the last anniversary," said Artur sadly, "when one touched this
small bit of metal, here,"--he indicated a lever beside the diaphragm,
which I had not noted--"this wire moved swiftly, and His voice came
forth. But this anniversary, the wire did not move, and there was no
voice."

"Let me see that thing a moment." There were hinges at one end of the
panel, and I lifted it carefully. An intricate maze of delicate
mechanism came up with it.

* * * * *

One thing I saw at a glance: the box contained a tiny, crude, but
workable atomic generator. And I had been right about the wire: there
was a great orderly coil of it on one spool, and the other end was
attached to an empty spool. The upright of rusty metal was the pole of
an electro-magnet, energized by the atomic generator.

"I think I see the trouble, Artur!" I exclaimed. One of the connections
to the atomic generator was badly corroded; a portion of the metal had
been entirely eaten away, probably by the electrolytic action of the
two dissimilar metals. With trembling fingers I made a fresh
connection, and swung down the hinged panel. "This is the lever?" I
asked.

"Yes; you touch it so." Artur moved the bit of metal, and instantly the
shining wire started to move, coming up through the one small hole,
passing, on its rollered guides, directly over the magnet, and
disappearing through the other hole, to be wound up on the